Broadway: Company

Phone rings, door chimes, in comes Company — with a revised lens on an old favorite.

Here’s my confession: I did not grow up with the works of Steven Sondheim. While that’s mostly a story for another day, it’s important for the context of how I perceived Company in its newest, gender-swapped revival on Broadway. This was the first piece of Sondheim’s that I had ever seen live, and the first time I even had listened to one of his musicals from start to finish. I saw Company on Broadway fresh off its Tony win, with no prior knowledge or expectation. This production was hyped through word of mouth, and it was definitely highly-anticipated in this season, and I am glad I got to experience this production.

Company is a conceptual musical focused on the ideas of relationships and marriage (and company!), and centralizes around Bobbie (Katrina Lenk) as she celebrates her 35th birthday. Her friends—who are all either married or in committed relationships— throw her a surprise birthday party. At the party, Bobbie fails to blow out all her birthday candles, and her friends give their sympathy, telling her that her wish will still come true. Only to Bobbie’s knowledge, she doesn’t wish for anything, and revels in the fact that the company of her friends is enough.

The show then breaks into disconnected vignettes of Bobbie visiting her friends or visiting with potential boyfriends and explores the concepts of relationships and marriage through the lens of these relationships. While Bobbie grapples with the idea of being unmarried, many of her friends are envious of her lifestyle that they perceive has more freedom than their own.

In the finale of the show, Bobbie comes to the realization that with all the dangers of love and intimacy that she is seeking something that will make her feel alive (“Being Alive”). The show concludes on a reset of the birthday party scene, where Bobbie’s friends have left after thinking she wasn’t coming. Bobbie sneaks into a moment alone and blows out all the candles on the cake.

I absolutely loved Jennifer Simard as Sarah in this show. I saw Simard as the adult women characters in Mean Girls right before she left to join the cast of Company, and I thought her comedic timing was impeccable, and Sarah gives her even more room to shine. I am so glad she had a little more spotlight in Company than she did in Mean Girls, her comedic work is stellar and I love that she was able to have a bit of the spotlight in this production.

Of course, Matt Doyle as Jamie was another standout performance. His Tony-winning rendition of “Getting Married Today” earned a mid-show standing ovation. Not only was his vocal talent incredible, but his acting and timing were impeccable as well. I thoroughly enjoyed his performance, and his Tony was well deserved.

I also really enjoyed Katrina Lenk‘s performance as Bobbie. I thought she took on the role and made Bobbie her own very well. I don’t have much to compare it to, but going into the show blind, I thought her performance was earned. Her comedic timing was great and her rendition of “Being Alive” was a standout moment in the show. I also personally love Lenk’s vocal talent, and this was no disappointment.

The scenic design of this revival with the neon lights was another standout point to me. I love the aesthetic they have built with this production with the neon lights and creating kind of the quintessential NYC feel. I thought it made what could be seen as a dated production to be modern and an homage to New York City. I also like the transition of sets where Bobbie would visit these different apartments that were almost like little dollhouse rooms and they kind of were stylistically sterile and let the characters bring the different settings to life.

I feel there were a few areas of the show that were lukewarm to me, and I kind of felt like maybe I just didn’t “get” it. This revival felt like it largely played to people who know Company and are already familiar with the book, which is fine. I felt like I was missing something as someone who had no prior knowledge of the material. I walked out of it a little bit confused, and that’s okay! Art is made to kind of stretch our minds and some shows take a little bit longer to process than others.

I think the book for this show carries a little bit of a dated sentiment, even though Sondheim revised the text in the 90s and then the text was revised again for this new gender-swapped revival. I don’t think there’s a way to shift this text to a more modern understanding and lens without unraveling the entire book of the show. It makes sense for when the show originally premiered in 1970, and perhaps when it was revived again in the 90s and early 00s, but in today’s world it did feel a little bit dated. That’s just my perspective as someone walking into the text for the first time in 2022.

Overall, I am still glad I had the opportunity to see this show. There were parts I really enjoyed, and I always enjoy seeing shows try to take something in an edgier direction from the original production. I think if I hadn’t seen this production, I would have always wondered what if? so I’m glad I was able to see it and I’m glad for the talent I was able to see as well.

My main bigger feelings about the production stemmed from a little bit of an existential crisis for me at the stage of life I am currently in. Any way you cut it, I think for someone in their adult life watching their friends all get married, not unlike Bobbie, it would either be something cathartic to watch or a bit anxiety provoking, and for me it leaned a bit into the anxiety territory. Still an insightful production overall, stacked with great talent.

Company was originally slated to open on Sondheim’s 90th birthday on March 22, 2020. The production began previews at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on March 2, 2020. After nine preview performances, performances came to a halt due to COVID-19. After the turbulent Broadway shutdown, the production resumed previews on November 15, 2021. Sondheim attended the show shortly before his death. The production announced it would close on Broadway on July 31, after 32 previews and 300 regular performances. A national tour is slated for the 2023-24 season.